Refrigerator



Sept. 10, 1929. G. .JUNEAU REFRIGERATOR Filed May `A25. 192B 2 Sheets-Sheet orngy.

Sept. lo, 1929.' C. G. JUNEAU l REFRIGERMORk Filed May 25. 1928 Afesheets-snm, 2

Patented Sept. 10, 1929.

UNITED STATE s-,PATENT OFFICE.

- CH'ARLES G. JUNEAU, DECEASED, LATE 0F WAUWATOSA, WISCONSIN, BY ANNA K. JUNEAU, ADMINISTRATRIX, OF WAUWATOSA, WISCONSIN, AND WALTER' C. MARSHALL, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

REFRIGERATOR.

.Application led May 25,-

Our invention relates to refrigerators'` wherein an improved method of air circulation is obtained and more adequate refrigeration or cooling of the articles or food products provided.

Our improved refrigerator, also adapted for domestic or commercial use, is especially designed for use in the buffet end of railroad dining cars where considerable diiiiculty is encountered in providing proper refrigeration rbecause of the location of the refrigerators and the utilization of limited space at the buffet end of thevdining cars. v

Our invention is embodled in a refrigerator especially adapted for containingr fruits, and the like, in connection with which proper chilling temperatures are necessary to maintain the fruit orv similar food products at a properttemperature and in suitable condition, without, however, permitting contamination of any of the food products by reason of the presence of other articles in the refrigerator.

The invention contemplates a construction whereby a more uniformcold temperatureA of the various food holding compartments of the refrigerator may be obtained and the ldesired chilling of the various food stuffs accomplished.

Figure 2, of a food The objects-and advantages of our invention will be readily comprehended from the detailed description of the drawings, where- 1n1- i Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of one formof our improved refrigerator.

Figure 2 is an enlarged d etail sectional view of one of the' food holding compartments.

Figure 3 is a sectional elevation of the upper portion of the refrigerator shown in Figure 1; the view being taken substantially at right angles to the disclosure in Fi re 1. Figure 4 is a sectional view, similar to holding compartment, illustrating a modification. Figure 5 is a sectional elevation of the upper portion"A and one of the food holding compartments of the 'refrigerator illustratina modified form.

igure 6 is a sectional YQW @.f the 1928. Serial No. 280,536.

holding compartment shown in Figure V5; theview being taken substantially at right angles-to Figure 5.

Figure 7 1s a detail sectional view of a portion of food holding compartment, illustrating the means employed in Figure 5 for operating the air-controlling means of the food holding compartments.

In the exempliication as disclosed in the first three figures of the drawings, our linv-vention is shown applied toa type of refrigerator especially adapted for use in railroad dining cars wherein mechanical refrigeration is generally employed; although it will be' under-N stood that our invention is e ually adapted for use in connectionwith re rigerators for commercial and domestic use and wherein ice may be employed as the cooling medium.

'The refrigerator as illustrated in Figure 1 consists of the ,outer double walls 15 of 70 any suitable material, preferably of Wood of proper thickness, having cork-board insulation 16 therebetween and arranged throughout the entire wall; the cork-board insu'la-` tion being preferably sealed with a nonodorous cold seal cement; The refrigerator, as illustrated in Figure 1, is of what'may be termed the single t pe, namely with a single tier of food ho ding compartments and refrigerating compartment, with th'e forward side provided with a suitable door 'or plurality of doors as indicated at 17 and 18 in Figure 3; the door. 17 providing access to the refrigerant-holding compartment 19, while the door 18 permits access to and constitutes one side wall of the food-holdingl compartments. 18 may extend throughout the entire food holding portion of the refrigerator or may consist of door sections in number equaling the number of food holding compartments so that access to a single compartment may be had.' Y j The upper -art of the lrefrigerator is shown providefwith'a mechanical refrigera'ting unit generally indicated at y20, 'which may be of a well'known type involving what are known 'as iin coilsv21. This refrigerating 'unit is arranged -in a com artment It is obvious that the door noV "formed by theinsulated wall or aie .22, 10

consisting of cork-board'cover'ed with .sheet '.metal. 4A 4'portion of the baille 22 extends L vertically in parallel spaced relation with one side wall of the refrigerator, while the bottom portion isv arranged at` an inclination and terminates in spaced relation with the opposite side wall of Vthe refrigerator. The lower end of the bottom portion is preferably provided with an upstanding lip or iange at 23 for Athe purpose of preventing dripping of the condensate into the lower part of the` refrigerator. It will be understood that the partition or balile 22 extends from yfront to rear so as to provide'a complete enclosure or compartment for the re-v cates with the upper part of the refrigerantvholding compartment 19, at the ypoint 27 above the bathe 22.

As the mechanical refrigerating unit isot` a well known construction and forms no part of our invention, a specific description of its construction and operation need not be entered into; it being understood that ice or 'any other cooling medium may be employed. The refrigerator, as shown in Figure 1, com rises a plurality of independent food hol ing compartments formed bythe walls 28, 28; preferably of metal, orother suitable conducting .materiah-extending from the rear 'wall of the refrigerator to the front wall as show-n in Figure 3, so as to provide independent compartments, merely having communication with the air circulating portion of the refrigerator at the upper ends of the compartments as later described. The walls 28 are shown with inwardly flanged bottom portions for supporting the bottoms 29 of the respective compartments; the bottoms being either permanently or. slidably mounted in place. The walls 28 are arranged in -spaced relation with the side walls of the refrigerator i'n order to provide theairpas-v sages 24 and 25; and these .food holding compartments are also arranged to provide an air passage 30 at the bottom of therefrigerator whereby communication between the air passage 24 andthe air passage 25 is pro? vided to enable full and ample circulation-of the air beneath `the lowermost compartment `and likewise along the `opposite side walls of said compartments.

1 A,As will be seen in Figure 1,- a plurality of separate non-communicating food-stuit' holding compartments are provided adapted p to separately-,hold various food articles and each. constituting a separate'chilling chamyben-through which proper circulation is ob-V tained by means of the pivotally mounted lips or shutters .31 arranged at the upper ends of both side walls 28 of each compartment. These shutters, like the side walls 28, are preferably of sheet metal,-or other suitable temperature conducting material,-with the flower longitudinal edges of the shut-l disclosed in Figures-1 to 3, the shutters or lips 31 are automatically controlled by means of a pressure providingelement or liquid, enclosed in the hermetically sealed container 3'3 shown in the nature of acopper bellows to permitready expansion and contraction of the bellows through the ac-- tion of the liquid therein; the liquid being -of a'well known character whose boiling point is approximately 32 degrees Fahrenheit, so that expansion of the bellows will take place as soon as the temperature in the refrigerator rises tol a predetermined degree. The bellows is shown provided with an upstanding rod 34 slidably mounted in a bracket 35 secured vto one wall of the refrigerator (constituting one side wall of the foot holding compartment) the rod being preferablysecured to the bellows and having-its lower end threaded at 36 to receive a nut 37 for controlling the tension of a spring 38 encircling the rod 34 lintermediate of the 'nut 37 and the guide bracket It is evident that' upon screwing nut 37 upwardly on rod 34 the tension of spring 38 is increased and therefore the effective moment of operation of the 'bellows rcontrolled or retarded; while screwing nut 37 downwardly on the rod 34 enhances the moment of operation, or in other words causes operation of the mechanism at a lower temperature. The upper end of rod or plunger 34 has a pair of rods 39, 39 pivotally secured thereto at 40; the outer ends of rods 39 being pivotally secured at 41, 41 to the, two opposite shutters or lips 31, 31 so. that simultaneous operation of both lips or shutters is induced when bellows 33 expands orwhen the latter contracts and spring 38 expands.

Each of the food-stuft' holding compartments 42 are' shown provided with a thermometer at 43 mounted in a proper protective holder or shield44 so that the mercury or fluid holding glass-'tube may not be broken. i

In the exemplication, passage or duct 24-which extends from front to rearof the refrigerator the full width of the foodstuff holding compartments, constitutes the l cold airduct leading from the'throat or orment 19 in the upper end of liice 26, at the lowest point in the refrigerant compartment 19, to the bottom of the re'- frigerator 'Where it connects with bottom passage 30, which in turn connects with the bottom of what constitutesthe Warm or rising air passage or duct 25, thereby causing circulation of cold air along the sides of the ffood-stulf compartments, which are inde,-

ator flows down through throat or opening 26 into passage or cold air duct 24 and down to the bottom of the refrigerator. lViththe lips or shutters 3.1 extending ward into passage 24, it is apparent. that cold air will flow through the opening at the top of eachifood holding compartment and drop or flow toward the shelf or bottom 29 of the respective compartments and therefore caused to pass over and around all of the food-stuff in each compartment.

This movement of the cold air is caused toAv take place because the lip or shutter 31`in the 'opposite side of the food-stuit' compartment is in similar open position, and affords communication between the opposite side of the compartments 42 and the warm or rising air passage or duct 25. As a result, a complete. displacement of warm air takes place in each compartment and hence I a completey chilling of all-of the foodstuds is accomplished.

The warm air in duct orV passage 25 will rise toward the top of the refrigerator and made to pass along' baille 22 and jpassthrough passage 27 into the top of the refrigerant compartment 19, coming into contact with the refrigerant medium and when properly chilled. made to fiow downwardly into cold air passage 24. r

A .continuous circulation of cold air is therefore constantly maintained. y

With the lips or .shutters of each compartment 42 separatelyl controlled, itis .obvious that a degree of ltemperature in each compartment, in keeping Withthe foodstuff contained in thecompai'tment, maybe obtained by regulati the spring pressure of. the plungersv o1` rods 34 so4 that lthe moment of efectivepressure in the liquid holding conupwardly outenergizing ofthe tainers or bellows 33 may be retarded or advanced as the case may be.

As the temperatures in the compartments 42 rise beyond the desired degree, the4 liquid in the containers or bellows 33 boils and ex-` panels, causing the plunger or rod 34 to move upwardly, thereby forcing thelips or shutters 31 outwardly; increasing the size of the openings in the upper parts of the compartments 42, allowing a greater amount ot cold air to enter from passage 24 and an outflow of warm air into passage 25. On the other hand, asthe temperature in each compartment 42 drops below a preselected degree, thel containers or bellows33 contract and the plungers or rods 34 move downwardly through the action of the springs 38, thus causingthe rods 39 to draw the lips or shutters .31 upwardly toward closed position; this condition maintainlng until the temperature in a compartment 42 rises above the pre-selected temperature; itl

being understood," of coursethat the respective springs 38 have been previously regulated to eiiect operatlon at the pre-` selected temperatures. f

v In Figure 4 we illustrate a modification of the invention in so far as the lip or shutter controllingmeans is concerned; the refrigerator in all other respects being simi`r lar inV construction to that previously described and shown in Figure l; being prov vided with the cold air passage `24 and the warml air vpassage 25 arranged vertically at opposite sides of the food-stulf compartment 42. The food-stuff compartment is similarly formed; having vthe metallic or ltemperature conducting side walls 28 .extending from front'to rear transversely of the refrigerator, and eachv provided at top with a hingedly connected lip or shutter 31, like in the construction shown in' Figure, 1.

The shutters or lips 31 are controlled by the rods 39, 39, pivotally connected to the plunger-rod' 34, slidably mounted in the guide bracket 35 and encircled by the spring '48, whose tension may be regulated bythe nut 37.

` The plunger 34 in this construction is operatively connected to a suitable magnet coil shown at 45, with lines or wires 46 arranged to provide a suitable electrical circuit (the circuit involving 'ny` suitable source of electrical energy not siiown) which is vaffectedv by a suitable electrical contact mak-ing Athermometer indicated at 47; the magnet and its appurtenances functioning in place. of the liquid holdingl containers or A bellows 33 shown in Figure,v 1. The opera.,- tion of the lips or shutters in this construction is similar to that previously described; the`compression spring 38 causing the vlips 31 to close when the magnet causing the magnet isv deenergi'ed", 130

' ters 31 through the manipulation of mechanical means consisting of 4a rod 48 disposed transversely of each food-stuff hold-y ing compartment 42 and rotatably mounted at an intermediate pint in a suitable bracket 49 secured to the rear side wall of the refrigerator adjacent tothe top of each food compartment 42. One end of the rod 48 extends, through oneof the main side walls of the refrigerator, with the outer end -preferably provided with a suitable knob or finger-grasp 50 whereby the rod 48 kmay be rotated. f

The rod 48 at suitable places is shown threaded at 51 where the rod extends through internally threaded blocks or. sleeves 5 2, 52, which extend through holes 53, in the lips or shutters 31 and are pivf otally connected to the shutters in any suit-Y able manner, as for example by the brackets 54, one of which` is shown in dotted lines in Figure 7. The swiveled connection betweenthe sleeve and the bracket permits the anf gularity of the shutter to be altered; it bcing understood that movement of the pivotal connection .between sleeve 52 and bracket 54y through/the arc of` a circle may. be effected either by slight sliding move- Y ment of' bracket A54 on the shutter' or by means of a .slotin sleeve 52 for the pivot'- pin carried'by bracket 54.l

The jfood compartment 42 is shown provided with a thermometer at ,43 located in the upper part of the compartment. In the eventthe temperature in a compartment is found to be'improper, say too warm,.rod 48 is rotated so'asto cause the sleeves or blocks 52 to'ride toward theends of the rod 48,

thereby causing the lips or shutters 31 to move outwardly into the air ducts or pas- Veo . sages 24 and 25. This will induce a greater infiow of cold air from passage 24 and more rapid outfiow of warm air intopassage' 25 and vhence causea proper chilling of the foodlstujfs in the compartments 42. On the other hand', if the temperature in any one of y the compartments is too low, proper rota-k tionv of .rod 48.*will-cause movement of the sleevesy 'or blocks 52 toward each other and effect a closing or partial closure of the openings at the tops ofthe compartmentsv by .the

upward movement of the shutters, or lips 31.

It is apparent that with either form of our invention greater fiexibility and adaptability of the refrigerator 'to the many different operating environments and conditions is provided and that"y the proper temperaturesy of the various food-holding compaitments ma be controlled and regulated in keeping wit the food contained; while at the same time each shelf or compartment bottommay be completely coveredv with food without hindering proper air circulation. Furthermore, with our improved refrigerator employing separate, non-communicating compartments for the food-stuffs, contamination is vmade 30 impossible.

It will be understood, of course, that the bottom portion of baffle 22 is preferably made sloping toward one side of the refrig- `erator where it may be provided with a drip 35 vbe readily incorporated in the large or double type of refrigerator where thefood holding compartments are arranged on both sides` p of the cold air passage 24 in the manner dis-V 95 closed in our pendingapplication Serial No. 180,640.

n What we claim is:n e '1. A refrigerator having in its top a refrigerant holding compartment formed by a baffle arranged to constitutethe bottom and i side walls of the compartment, the side wall being in spaced relation with the main side and top walls of the refrigerator, a plurality of separate food-stuff holding compartments arranged vertically beneath the bottom of the baiiie and spaced from two of the main side wallsl of the refrigerator so as to provide vertically extending air passa'ges on opposite sides of said last mentioned compartments, l said passages communicating with each other beneath the lowest food-holdingcompartment,A one passage communicating at top with the bottom ofthe refrigerant compartment while the other passage communicates 115, with the top of ,said refrigerant compartment,the side walls of the food-.stuff compartments adjacent to the tops thereof being provided with shutters hingedly connected 12 y at bottom to said side walls so as to swing outwardly into said air passages, and means connected to the shutters of each compartment whereby said shutters may simultaneously be moved into open or closed positions.

- 2.A refrigeratorprovided lin its top with a refrigerant holding compartment, air passages disposed vertically of the refrigerator and communicating with each other at the y "bottom eachfof said passagescommunicat- 13 at its top,

'adjacent to its top,

` ing with said compartment at different elevations to constitute a cold air passage and a warm air passage, food-stuff holding compartments arranged one above the other intermediate of said air passages and having temperature conducting side walls, shutters pivotally secured to the upper ends of said side walls for establishing communication between said air passages and the respective food-stuit' compartments, means operatively connected to the shutters of each compartment for simultaneously moving the same, and controllable means for actuating said first means. o 3. A refrigerator provided in its top with a refrigerant hold'ng compartment having an air outlet in bottom and an air inlet food-stuff holding compartments arranged one above the other in spaced relation with the main side walls of 'the refrigerator to provide air passages extending on opposite sides of the foodstuff compartments and communicating with each other beneath the bottom compartment, one of said passages communicating with said air outletl while the other communicates with said air. inlet, each of said food-stuff compartments having solid bottoms, shutters hingedly secured at bottom to the tops of the opposite side walls of-said food-stuit' compartments so as to permit the upper ends ofthe shutters to swing outwardly intoy said air pas-r sages, means operatively connected to the opposing shutters'ofeach compartment for holding the same in their adjusted positions, and means for 'actuating saidfirst means.

4. A refrigerator provided in its top withv a refrigerant holding compartment having an air outlet in its bottom and an air inlet foodstuff holding compartments having temperature conducting side walls arranged beneath said first compartment in spaced relation with the main sidewalls of the refrigerator to provide verf tical air passages on opposite sides and communicating with each other .at the bottomv of the refrigerator, lone` of said passages communicating with saidl air outlet while the other passage communicates with said air inlet, .shutters hingedly secured to the Y' opposite side walls of the food-stuit' holding compartment so as to swing outwardly into said 'air passages, means operativelyA connected to theopp'ositeshutters of each `compartment for hol ing the Asame in their ad- -justed positions, and temperature controlled means for actuating said rst means.-

5. A refrigerator .provided with insulated top, bottom and yside walls, an insulated partition wall (extending from side to side in the upper part of the refrigerator, thevlower wall extending latn slopingr manner, the partition wallY being formedrto, Jprvde a part of said partition cold air cally .disposed air erally disposed portion and a warm air paspassage at they free end of said latsage at the upper end of the partition, a

plurality of food-stuff holding compartments arranged one above the other beneath said laterally tition wall so as to provide vertically disposed air passages along the sides of said compartments, said compartments having imperforate bottoms, the upper ends of opposite side walls of the compartments being hingedly secured in place to permit said portions to swing outwardly into said vertically disposed air passages, and means operatively connected with the hinged portions of the opposite side walls of each compartment whereby said portions may be controlled.

6. A refrigerator provided with insulated top, bottom and side walls, an insulated partition wall disposed from front to rear in spaced relation with a side wall to provide a Warm air passage therebetween and arranged in the upperpart of the refrigerator, the lower end of said partition wall being disposed laterally toward the opposite side wall and terminating im spaced relation thereto to provide a coldair passage, foodstuit holding compartments arranged beneath said laterally disposed portion ofthe partition wall and having vertical walls arranged in spaced relation withl the side walls of the refrigerator, the opposite side wa-lls vof the food stutl" holding compartments adjacent the tops having pivoted portions adapted to move 'outwardly into the vertipassages at opposite sldes of sald compartments, and means for regulating the position of the pivoted portions of said compartment Walls whereby the circulation of cold air through each compartf ment may be separately controlled.

7. A refrigerator provided with insulatpartition wall disposed from front to rear extending portion of said parl ed top, bottom and side walls, an insulated in spaced relation with a side wall to prop vide a vertically disposed warm air passage communicating at top with the opposite side of said partition wall, the lower end of said partition 4wall being disposed laterally toward the opposite side -wallr andv formed to provide a downwardly y disposed coldv air passage at the end of said laterally disposed portion, food-stuff holding compartments arranged one above'the other beneath said laterally disposed portion and having side walls arranged in spaced relation with'v both the refrigerator,v

of said refrigerator "side walls, said coml 6 t f y -1,727,777.

partment bein hinged to swing vertically outward into t e air passages, and temperature controlled. means' vfor independently regulating the two portions of the opposite walls of each compartment.

ANNA K. JUNEAU, t Admm'stmtw of the'Estate of uz'rles` G.

Juneau, Deceased.

10 WALTER o. MARSHALL. 

